Irish female professionals only hold a quarter of C Suite roles, with women also underrepresented across the board at managerial and senior levels, according to data released by LinkedIn.

Less than a third (31%) of leadership roles in Ireland are held by female workers according to the data.

At entry level, 46% of roles in Ireland are held by women. Climbing up the seniority ladder, the share of women in Ireland holding manager roles drops slightly to 42%. This drops steeply at leadership level, with only 31% of senior roles in Ireland held by women. 

A gender leadership gap is evident across all sectors of the economy, with the sole exception of Hospitals and Healthcare where women achieve parity by holding 50% of senior leadership roles, although female representation is 70% at entry level in the sector. 

Commenting on the data, Head of LinkedIn in Ireland, Sharon McCooey said, “Ireland has made real strides in its drive towards gender equality in the workplace over the past number of decades, but clearly a lot of work still needs to be done. It’s not that long ago when my own mother’s role as a nurse was impacted by the marriage bar.  Its repeal had a transformative effect. In one generation, Ireland went from banning married women from work, to electing a married woman as President.”

She added, “Tackling the gender leadership gap comes down to sowing the seeds of change to help women at the early stages of their career thrive and flourish as they rise up the career ladder. There are plenty of progressive actions organisations can commit to, for example embedding flexible working in their culture, advocating for the female talent within their organisation and building out a team that is reflective of Irish society.”

Source: www.businessworld.ie